


A Falling Veil

by Secret_Keeper_AO3



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28889541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secret_Keeper_AO3/pseuds/Secret_Keeper_AO3
Relationships: companions - Relationship
Kudos: 4





	A Falling Veil

A veil falls away without a sound. It falls away into nothingness. The world begins to shift. The great northern mountains of Cythio sigh, as if the eons of watching the lands below has finally had them break into a sob. The fathomless eastern seas feel the water become inconsistent, warm and hot, deep and shallow; the fish and other creatures of the deep have had this day built into their souls, and begin their push ever further east. To the southern plains, time has lost meaning. The animals, the wheat, and the winds stop in shock, and then grief befalls them. The animals mourn the loss, and the wind carries the message to lands beyond. The western woods stand tall, not phased. Unlike the mountains that grew too attached after all this time as if it would last forever, unlike the seas that took and disposed without sense or care, and unlike the plains beyond the woods, the woods knew how to adapt. The woods have been slain, burned, polluted, diseased, and yet still stands strong. The woods will adapt to the exposed life. The veil is gone, and may never come back. High above the lands, the stars all shudder, as if a strange itch has gotten to them, as if they all shared a feeling that something terrible has happened.  


The Queen woke from a sleepless dream, as if the curtains in her chambers had just been opened to bask her in the morning sun. But it wasn't morning, it was very far from dawn. She felt...strange, as if something was missing. The wind that rattled her windows, pounding on the glass like one seeing the loss of a loved one made her realize. She sprung out of bed and grabbed one of the ropes that hung by her bed that rang bells across the castle in order to notify servants. A handmaiden hurried in within a few minutes. "My grace, what's wrong?" she said, mid-bow. 

"Summon the artifacts expert. Send him to the bell tower. I need to see him on the bell tower's balcony. Tell him to bring the tools, he'll know which ones." Was all the Queen said as she quickly put on her slippers and rushed out of the bedroom. The handmaiden was confused on why the Queen needed to see the artifacts expert in the middle of the night, but the Queen had already left before she got to ask questions. She made her way through the castle until she got to the quarters of the artifacts expert, told him the Queen had summoned him, and was left with even further questions as the man snapped awake immediately, grabbed a bunch of miscellaneous tools and items, and rushed out the door. The handmaiden had nothing to do but go back to bed, so she let her mind wander as she returned to the servant sector. If she had paid more attention as she made her way, she might have noticed the black velvet wooden mirror that hung in one of the halls had disappeared.  
The Expert ran through the halls, nearly outpacing the wind rattling the windows. 

*They couldn't have failed, they couldn't have failed...* the expert thought to himself as he ran out of breath midway up the tower's stairwell. He'd forgotten how heavy the mirror was. As soon as he opened the door, he was shocked by the silence. He thought that the blood pounding in his ears drowned out the bell tower's chimes, but they stood there, silent and still. 

"I locked the mechanisms." The Queen said, descending from a ladder that led to the tower's service platform. She shivered in the cold wind, her nightgown wasn't made for frigid temperatures. 

"Let's begin, I'm sure this is just a strange storm." the expert said, knowing full well it wasn't. He pulled from the bag a rock from the Cythio mountain range, a rare root from the western woods, the bones of a fish from the eastern sea, and a bag of grain from the southern plains. They chiseled some dust from the rock, placed the bones in a pattern, trimmed off a knob from the root, and placed a handful of grains, along with everything else, into the indents in the mirror, surrounding the glass. The Queen and expert gazed into themselves, until the mirror turned into a green hue. The green strained their eyes until it faded into shades of grey.  


"Ah, you call upon me? After all this time?" The mirror spoke out, in an emotionless tone. 

"Have they failed?" The Queen said, exchanging her look of worry for a twang of frustration. 

"Why should I tell you? You both, and your companions when they were alive, are the reasons I am like this." The mirror rasped. "Do it, and you'll get to live to see another day as a whole being." The expert threatened. The mirror changed its hue from red, to blue, to purple, to green. "Fine." the mirror said, the coldness of its voice being carried through the wind.  


"After everything you did, the sacrifices made, the crimes committed, the atrocities forgiven, the threats pushed out, the friends you took advantage of...." the mirror always loved suspense, even before it was a mirror. "Yes. They have failed." Their world crumbled. The expert broke the silence. "You mean we put them, our friend, my LOVER, through all that for nothing?" he said in despair. "Yes!" The mirror said with glee. "You know they loved this world, and wanted to keep it safe, but you never told them the cost. You sacrificed their love, their joy, their mercy, their forgiveness, the memories you have of them, even their alternatives, for nothing." The mirror cackled. "You don't even know what they were like anymore, do you? I definitely don't. You only remember that they loved you, don't you!?" The mirror replied, cracking it's glass to make a smile in the center of its glass. "Why are you laughing?" The Queen said, holding back her tears behind a mask of rage. "Because you both deserve this fate, all this blood is on your hands. I'm a prime example of your crimes!" The mirror said, before the Queen dragged it off the edge of the tower, hearing its cackles break into a million smaller voices, before being scattered to the wind.  
The veil has fallen away. The Queen in her crimson dress, the expert with his bloodied tools, stood atop their world of corpses. The mountains shake, the seas rage, the plains cry, and the woods stand.


End file.
